Mathematical Reasoning of Children and Adults (eBook)

This book adopts an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the development of mathematical reasoning in both children and adults and to show how understanding the learner's cognitive processes can help teachers develop better strategies to teach mathematics. This contributed volume departs from the interdisciplinary field of psychology of mathematics education and brings together contributions by researchers from different fields and disciplines, such as cognitive psychology, neuroscience and mathematics education.  

The chapters are presented in the light of the three instances that permeate the entire book: the learner, the teacher, and the teaching and learning process. Some of the chapters analyse the didactic challenges that teachers face in the classroom, such as how to interpret students' reasoning, the use of digital technologies, and their knowledge about mathematics. Other chapters examine students' opinions about mathematics, and others analyse the ways in which students solve situations that involve basic and complex mathematical concepts. The approaches adopted in the description and interpretation of the data obtained in the studies documented in this book point out the limits, the development, and the possibilities of students' thinking, and present didactic and cognitive perspectives to the learning scenarios in different school settings.

Mathematical Reasoning of Children and Adults: Teaching and Learning from an Interdisciplinary Perspective will be a valuable resource for both mathematics teachers and researchers studying the development of mathematical reasoning in different fields, such as mathematics education, educational psychology, cognitive psychology, and developmental psychology.

Alina Galvão Spinillo is a Full Professor in the Post-Graduate Program in Cognitive Psychology at the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil. She is also one of the leaders of the Group for Research in Psychology of Mathematics Education at the same university. She served as Coordinator of the Working Group Sociocognitive and Language Development of the National Association for Research and Post-Graduate Programs in Psychology (ANPEPP), Brazil. She is a level 1 researcher with the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). She holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a master's degree in Cognitive Psychology both from the Federal University of Pernambuco. She holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Oxford (England), and completed a post-doctorate at the University of Sussex (England). Her investigations deal with the following topics: psychology of mathematics education with emphasis on the development of complex mathematical concepts (such as proportion, chance, fractions, combinatorial reasoning), number sense in children, children's knowledge about texts of different genres, development of textual awareness, textual production and comprehension of narrative, expository and argumentative texts in children. Some of her research studies examine the relations between learning and cognitive development, extracting educational implications for the elementary school years. 

Sintria Labres Lautert is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and in the Post-Graduate Program in Cognitive Psychology at the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil. Coordinator of the Working Group in Psychology of Mathematics Education of the National Association for Research and Post-Graduate Programs in Psychology (ANPEPP, 2010-2020), Brazil and one of the leaders of the Group for Research in Psychology of Mathematical Education (NUPPEM), Brazil. She received a master's degree and a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the Federal University of Pernambuco, (Brazil). Post-doctorate at the Poincaré Institute for Mathematics Education, Tufts University (USA). Her research interests focus on conceptual development (multiplicative structures, particularly division and the role of meanings, properties, relations, and symbolic representations in the learning of mathematics). Her most recent interest involves decision-making and concept formation in the field of financial education, and professional development of mathematics teachers and teaching of statistic in elementary school.

Rute Elizabete de Souza Rosa Borba is an Associate Professor in the Post-Graduate Program in Mathematical and Technological Education at the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil. She is also leader of the Study Group on Combinatorial and Probabilistic Reasoning (Geração) at the same university. She served as Vice-President of the Brazilian Society of Mathematical Education and Coordinator of the Working Group 01 (Mathematics in Early Childhood Education and Early Years of Elementary School). She holds a mathematics degree from the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco and a master's degree in Cognitive Psychology from the Federal University of Pernambuco. She holds a Ph.D. from Oxford Brookes University (England), and completed a post-doctorate at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil). Her investigations deal with the following topics: conceptual development (combinatorial and probabilistic reasoning, and the role of meanings, properties, relationships, and symbolic representations in mathematical learning), analysis of textbooks and training of teachers who teach mathematics.